I have never much liked fishing either from shore or boat... just too boring. Yesterday a day off coincided with the 4th or 5th invite for salmon fishing so I went just to shut Pete up .

So here is the setup, Hit the river at 6:30am getting a crash course in salmon fishing from Pete as we headed up stream. He gives me a pole and lure that have never caught a fish and says good luck... but the salmon gods gave me a sign:

In under an hour I was at my limit with 2 nice 10 pounders... Pete finally landed one then I hit a 3rd.

This fish took to the air 3 times, ran under the motor and around the boat twice and took 20 minutes to land. What a fight, at one point the reel popped off the rod. Funniest fuckin this you ever saw as we fought the fish while keeping the line tight and remounted the reel.

After getting it landed we looked up to see a Fish and Game boat, they wanted to weigh/measure and take dna for reaserch. So okay... 2 were wild and 2 from hatecheries and my big fighter was one and they needed to keep the head for the tracking tag in it. Here is the head

Dear Scott, The Department of Fish and Game would like to sincerely thank you for cooperating with our field samplers on the Central Valley Angler Survey. The Chinook salmon you caught on 09/28/12 on the Sacramento River contained a coded-wire tag. The tag number 51942 allowed us to retrieve important information about the fish. This 3-year old male was the progeny of fall-run Chinook salmon spawned at the Feather River Hatchery located on the Feather River during the fall of 2009. It hatched in 2010 and was released from the hatchery on 05/06/2010 into the San Pablo Bay. The average length and weight of salmon in the hatchery release group, of which your fish was a part, were only 98 millimeters and 8.24 grams, respectively. The salmon you caught grew to 82.5 centimeters (32.5 inches) and 8.41 kilograms (18.7 pounds). Data collected by the Central Valley Angler Survey on the American, Feather, Mokelumne and Sacramento rivers enables the Department to estimate angler effort, catch, and harvest for the Chinook salmon fishery, as well as the steelhead/rainbow trout, white sturgeon, American shad and striped bass fisheries. Information developed from the recovery of coded-wire tags is used for a variety of salmon management decisions. Hatchery managers evaluate and improve hatchery rearing and release strategies based on the success of tagged release groups. Fishery managers use the information to assess the relative contribution of hatchery and natural production of salmon to the adult population, estimate stray rates of salmon, and measure the effect and success of both recreational and commercial fisheries. Coded-wire tag recovery data are also used to forecast future abundance of salmon. In turn, fishery managers use this information to improve and maximize salmon fishing opportunities, both in the ocean and in the rivers. Again, we thank you for your cooperation and wish you continued fishing success. Sincerely, MikeBrown Environmental Scientist Lead, Central Valley Angler Survey (916) 227-4989

__________________It may not reach the bottom of the well but it sure bangs the hell out of one side!